The Broads Authority are adopting a technique inspired by soldiers in Afghanistan to provide a wildlife haven on the Norfolk Broads.

An artificial island is being created on Duck Broad, near Hickling, made from sediment dredged from the waterway.

Steel cages will be filled with the silt and dropped into the broad to create a habitat for local fauna.

The process is similar to the walls created in war zones to protect military personnel from explosions.

"We know from reports of groundings and from our own surveys that we've done on this broad that the channel is very shallow," said Rob Rogers, head of construction facilities for the Broads Authority.

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The idea of using the steel cages to house the sediment came from one of the the Broads Authority's engineers.

"He saw them at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan - they use them to build the bomb walls and he came up with this idea of using them to put sediment into and create an island," said Mr Rogers.

Dredging the river at Duck Broad will allow boats to pass through with greater ease as well as aiding local wildlife and cutting down on the cost of transporting the dredged material away from the area.

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